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What is the most important target for investment to guard against incidents like last weeks cyberattacks?

The WannaCry ransomware attacks last Friday caught everyone unawares, and institutions around the world not least, our very own National Health Service are still assessing the damage and picking up the pieces. Attacks like these will almost always come without warning, and there seems to be widespread agreement that money needs to be spent to help prevent malware and hacking from damaging valuable and safety-critical systems and putting them out of action. As yet, however, there doesnt seem to be much clear consensus on the most important target for such investment, so were making that the subject of this weeks poll.

Should the main priority be on hardware; that is, replacing vulnerable IT systems? Should it be on updating software, such as the Windows XP operating system which most of the affected computers were running; or dedicated anti-malware programs to detect attacks and deflect them? Or should the priority be skills: training systems administrators in the best ways to handle malware attacks and mitigate their effects if necessary?

Comments are, of course, welcomed and as ever, particularly useful if you chose the None of the Above option. We will post the results of this survey on this page on 23 May.

Continued here:
This week's poll: Priorities for improving internet security - The Engineer